Hoorah! It's zombie-arse kicking time. I picked up Hot Toys Leon Kennedy (R.P.D. version) from the good people at TFH today. And since my sister's camera is a little low on the res', I've borrowed my boyfriend's semi-pro camera. I hope you enjoy the photos - it's my first attempt doing a photo shoot of a 12" figure.I know the lighting's inadequate and too orangey, plus I need to work on better poses and composition. I'll take more photos and update after I've borrowed the camera charger - the batteries ran flat before I was done.

Packaging - ***I took off the first half-star because the figure was secured with six twisties, delaying Leon's emancipation from the box by a good 5 minutes. There are those circular pieces of sticky tape too, but these are easily removed without damaging the packaging. Package design is very simple on the front - all-black with an embossed "Biohazard 4" logo. Considering the flashier, metallic boxes for the popular Hot Toys Movie Masterpiece series, this is a lot less exciting (another half-star removed). Would have been great if they printed something similar to the game cover on the front to pay it proper homage. Lastly, Hot Toys has taken a leaf from Sideshow and used magnets for the front flap, which is a tad more sophisticated than velcro patches.

Sculpting - ****Leon is a Japanese-created game character, so he's got an idealized, almost pretty-boy look. Thankfully the very talented Yulli sculpted him with a stronger jawline, giving him enough macho cred to survive in the average guy's figure collection. (If you wanted a sculpt that's an accurate representation of the video game Leon, you should knock off 1 star.)

Paint - ***1/2Hot Toys, in my opinion, does the best job with paint. Human skin is a complex material to render in any medium, and I think they're the most successful at it. It might have to do with the colour of the plastic they're using for heads, but I'm not gonna test if it's their blend/layers of flesh-toned paint or the plastic itself. The only drawback here is the hair. I would have preferred a more subtle gradient. In photos it's hard to tell, but looking at the figure in-person the contrast looks a bit too much.

Articulation - ****Leon uses a Hot Toys True-Type base body, and therefore poses like a dream. Since good articulation is currently a given with Hot Toys, let me mention that unlike their military series where most of the utilized bodies are the tanned-skin version, Leon's body matches the skin tone of his head. I wish they would sell these other lighter skin tone bodies (again).

Outfit - ***1/2You should be familiar with the high quality of Hot Toys' outfits. Extremely well-made, and I'm really anal about these things, being female and detail oriented. The half-star deduction is because of the ammo pouch that you have to insert on his belt. It's quite impossible to remove the belt from the belt straps without potentially damaging the belt or the trousers. So I chose not to put the pouch on. Another thing to be aware of - you might want to check your figure so that the "R.P.D" lettering is printed faultlessly on both the front and back of his outfit. I came across one where the white print making up the "R.P.D" missed a spot. (Told you I'm picky.)

Accessories - ****No complaints here, there is quite an arsenal for Leon! You get a total of 11 weapons (2 knives, 4 handguns, 1 magnum, 1 shotgun, 1 rifle, 1 flash grenade, 1 energy weapon). Under handguns, the basic handgun, Mathilda and Blacktail have a removable clip. The barrel on the Broken Butterfly Magnum can be flipped open, and its hammer is functional. Matilda and the very awesome-looking Plaga Removal Laser 412 (pictured above) are secret weapons from the game. He also comes with his communicator device, which flips open to reveal Hunnigan's and Leon's portraits. The display stand helpfully comes printed with the Biohazard 4 logo and Leon's name.

Fun Factor - ****Watched the Resident Evil movies? Here's your chance to have Leon star in his own movie, and out-gun and out-kung-fu Milla Jovovich. Also a great excuse to stockpile 12" zombies.

Value - ***There is quality and quantity here. Both versions of Leon are going at the official price of SG$200 locally. It's a high-end collectible, so only big fans of Hot Toys or Resident Evil need apply. The first shipment of Leons is fully pre-ordered at TFH, so if that's a good gauge of this figure's popularity it should retain or increase its value in time. Despite that, it's still pricey.

Overall - ****I am sure many people can count themselves as fans after having watched the movies and/or played the video games. Hot Toys delivered this with utmost quality and integrity - picking Biohazard 4 as their very first Video Game Masterpiece. (It's not a movie tie-in, and Biohazard/Resident Evil 4 was inititally released in 2005.) With enough support, Hot Toys might eventually pick up another quality game license like Silent Hill, or perhaps even compete with Medicom with Metal Gear Solid.

In Singapore - you can head to The Falcon's Hangar @ Waterloo Centre for either Regular or R.P.D. versions of Leon. They also sell both versions of Jack Krauser and the Ganado Chainsaw villager.

Online: eBay. You can get it from several Hong Kong sellers at approximately SG$170 (US$119) before shipping.

Stay tuned, I'll be posting photos of Leon taking on a *horde of zombies.

*By "horde", I mean the three zombies in my collection. One Paolo Parente Dust Ubermensch (thanks to Galactiboy :), and two Sideshow The Dead (Subject 05 and 560). If you're in S'pore and want to volunteer your zombie for pix, drop me a note. ;)

12
comments:

Thanks Sket. ^^ I'm not really a huge fan of RE4 (since picking up Silent Hill my RE interest has waned a bit), that's why I picked up the R.P.D version, which is his Raccoon Police Department uniform from RE2. Leon's first day on the job at the police department - and a zombie infestation breaks loose. Talk about a rough day.

Wow thanks for the great write up. *__* Leon is hawt as ever, but I think many people are getting the RE2 version. I wanna see the RE4 version with the typewriter too. I wonder if he comes with as many accessories.

I don't have any use for a Leon, but I would buy him if I had the spare money. :3~

Thanks Nat! :3Yeah, I agree. I conducted a short survey while I was deciding which Leon to purchase, and the answer was a resounding "R.P.D. Leon's cooler". If I knew how to make a mold of his head, I'd try making another head with "real" hair and see if that makes him hawtter. >_>

I'm trying to learn how to do molding right now myself. I'm tired of having the same bodies over and over. I want to try and sculpt new parts for Volks and Obitsu bodies. I dunno how I'll do since I've never tried sculpting before. XD But if I ever figure it out, I'll let you know. LOL

Nat - Sounds fun! I've fiddled around with Super Sculpey for a few projects, stylized characters are doable, but I can't for the life of me sculpt a realistic head. I'd wanted to make my own 12" figures from Heroes when my fandom was at its peak. But I'll leave that to more talented artists...

Shaun - Thanks for checking out the review! I'm trying to find my niche since you've pretty much covered most of the 1/6 local scene. :o